Speed Rack!*

Who doesn’t love a good race? When it comes to cocktails we couldn’t be happier to discover a bartender who can mix us up a drink cocktail super swiftly. So we are thrilled to announce the next Monday, Speed Rack will be coming to Boston.

Invented by our New York sisters Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero, Speed Rack is a national cocktail competition that features top female bartenders in key cocktail markets and puts them head to head in timed challenges as part of a 10-city tour to find the fastest female bartender in America while raising funds for breast cancer charities.

The inaugural Speed Rack competition was held in New York City in May by the local chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) and raised $3,500. (To see how the girls smoked it and for a taste of what’s to come in Boston, visit http://www.speed-rack.com/.)

Speed Rack Boston will be held Monday, October 10, 2011 at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts (www.villavictoriaarts.org). During the competition small bites from The Citizen, The Franklin Café, The Franklin Southie, Toro, Coppa, Myers and Chang, and Trina’s Starlite Lounge will be served as guest judges Jackson Cannon, of Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar, and Misty Kalkofen of Drink and LUPEC Boston President critique the drinks. Ticket price is $20 for this event and includes all food and beverage. You can buy online at http://www.speedrack.eventbrite.com or pay $20 at the door day of. OR, you can order a ticket, a Speed Rack tee-shirt and a Speed Rack Coozie all for just $35. Win, win, win. All proceeds will benefit breast cancer charities.

Ready, set, go! We hope to see you there. In the interim, mix up one of these at home. Time yourself to see how you would stack up.

SPEED

Invented by Laurie Ross

1/3 brandy

1/3 apricot brandy

1/6 orange juice

1/6 lemon juice

Shake ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a chilled vintage cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel.